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Google Releases Chrome For Android Beta

Posted by Soulskill on from the support-extensions-please dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Today Google announced the availability of a beta version of its Chrome browser for Android. Unfortunately, it's limited to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices. Google is trying to keep Chrome fast and easy to use, and part of that involved redesigning tabs so they work more naturally with touchscreens. 'You can flip or swipe between an unlimited number of tabs using intuitive gestures, as if you're holding a deck of cards in the palm of your hands, each one a new window to the web.' They've also including synchronization functionality that allows you to move from desktop browsing to phone or tablet browsing and pick up right where you left off."

12 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Didn't Android *always* have Chrome? by tysonedwards · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Didn't Android *always* have Chrome?

    When Google first announced Android, they stated it's web browser was based on WebKit with the V8 JavaScript engine, just like Chrome on the Desktop.

    --
    Thirty four characters live here.
    1. Re:Didn't Android *always* have Chrome? by Kenja · · Score: 4, Informative

      Nope. It has (had) a simple browser based on the Webkit API.

      --

      "Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
    2. Re:Didn't Android *always* have Chrome? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      No, the stock Android browser has never been Chrome. It has a completely different WebKit port, developed independently by a different group, with far worse support for newer web standards; is single-process; has a completely different UI stack (e.g. no omnibox); and doesn't have the same level of data syncing support.

      The stock Android browser could be called "Chrome" only to the same degree that Safari could be called Chrome.

    3. Re:Didn't Android *always* have Chrome? by tysonedwards · · Score: 4, Informative

      Chrome = WebKit + V8
      Safari = WebKit + SunSpider
      Konqueror = WebKit + KJS

      So, no... Safari is not Chrome.
      However, do you care to explain what else is necessary to make something a browser besides some UI bits?

      --
      Thirty four characters live here.
    4. Re:Didn't Android *always* have Chrome? by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Religious fanaticism. All the browsers have it.

    5. Re:Didn't Android *always* have Chrome? by Calos · · Score: 5, Informative

      Gingerbread's Web Browser also gets 100 on the Acid3 test.

      That 100 isn't the whole story, if the rendering isn't also correct.

      Acid3 is also a cherry-picked group of tests, some of which are still drafts, some of which have no real use in standard practice.

      AND... most importantly, here - it doesn't test HTML 5. That's one of the big things Google is pushing with Chrome for Android, hardware-accelerated HTML 5 rendering and support.

      (This could be related to the ICS requirement - GPU acceleration of UI elements)

      Chrome for Android also is single-process.

      Do you have a source? TFA says otherwise, official docs say otherwise.

      Yes, this seems to be the only *real* distinction between Chrome and Android's Web Browser.

      Clearly you're ignorant on the subject, so please don't take offense if I continue to ignore your claims.

      Now, I don't have an exhaustive list... But there are the things mentioned above, addition of the Omnibox, better developer tools, Incognito Mode, pre-loading and rendering pages as an option for don't/wifi only/always, no limit for number of tabs to have open, hardware accelerated rendering, redesigned UI that seems to be both better and more consistent with the desktop platform... Sandboxing isn't there yet, though they claim to be working on it.

      Chrome and Android's web browser are both WebKit + V8, in which there was a fork from Chromium at Version 4, as outlined in the Google Android Commit Logs. Seems more as though Android's web browser has always been Chrome, with modifications to support mobile devices, from what was at the time a Current Chromium version (read: Chrome). Seems as though Google has simply made a more up-to-date build of their web browser available.

      Chrome 4 was ages ago. At the time, sure, maybe the Android browser was Chrome 4 + enhancements for mobile devices - really don't care to go research the state of Chrome 4 and what Android Browser had then and what has been added since. But how well has the Android stock browser kept up with Chrome development?

      There's some obvious, fundamental differences to how the two versions worked. They apparently was a fair amount of neutering done to make it work on the phone quickly and easily, or it was from such an early Chrome build that a lot of the features associated with Chrome weren't present yet.

      That's a big part of this. They're working to keep both versions working off the same codebase. This will keep the Android browser more current going forward.

      --
      I vote based on politicians' actions, unless contrary to my preconceptions. Often wrong, never uncertain. #iamthe99%
  2. Occupy Fragmentation by Superken7 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Android users who are able to run Chrome Beta (that is, who are running ICS) are literally the 1%, according to Google's platform pie charts:
    http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html

    I prefer that they exploit the full power of their latest and greatest, but it's sad that only a mere 1% can access the latest and greatest :( (as of today, I'm sure this will change very quickly)

  3. CM9 + Chrome Beta = Zoom to the Future! by rafial · · Score: 4, Informative

    I've put this on my Galaxy Tab 10.1, which I recently updated to a developer release of CyanogenMod9 (The forthcoming ICS based Cyanogen). It really is nice. I can load up the full desktop version of Google+, which only sorta-kinda worked under the standard ICS browsers, and sorta-kinda worked differently under Firefox mobile, and it works 100%, no compromises. And doesn't feel much slower than my desktop either. That's great! The only annoyance is that it does seem to identify itself as a mobile browser, and I haven't yet found an option to change the user agent. No problem for sites like Wikipedia or G+ that give you a link to escape their mobile versions, but could be annoying elsewhere, since so many mobile sites are terrible. Surprising overside, since the stock browser in ICS includes an option to "request desktop site".

  4. Doesn't support *all* ICS devices... by Kamiza+Ikioi · · Score: 3, Informative

    If it's not an official ROM, don't expect support. Running EncounterICS Beta 3 on a Droid X here. And like other users of unofficial ICS ROMs, it doesn't work. For me, the problem is that all web pages are blank. Being that us bleeding edge custom ROM users are used to being bug testers, this is good for the beta and hopefully will be fixed soon.

    --
    I8-D
  5. Firefox mobile? by slyrat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Firefox has been doing this for a while. It is one of the primary reasons I use it since there is great synchronization of bookmarks along with it being a great mobile browser. I'm surprised it has taken chrome this long to do it and I'm also surprised it is only good for the newest version of android. I'll stick with Firefox mobile for now until the chrome works in 2.2 or 2.3.

  6. Re:great start but by ZiggieTheGreat · · Score: 5, Informative

    When the websites I routinely visit stop posting content in Flash, I won't want it on my mobile devices anymore.

    Until then, I either put flash on my android phone, or email myself a link to check out the site when I'm near a desktop computer.

  7. Re:Restricted to Ice Cream Sandwich--1% of devices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The Nexus S (which has ICS) and the Nexus S 4G (which soon will be getting it) only have 512Mb of memory and strangely enough...ICS runs great on it.